Research on School Bullying and Victimization: What Have We Learned and Where Do We Go From Here?

Abstract

This special issue on bullying and victimization in School Psychology Review highlights current research efforts in American schools on bullying and peer victimization, and how this research can inform prevention and intervention planning. This introductory article provides a brief overview of several major insights gained over the last decade from research on bullying in school-aged youth and sets the stage for the special issue. Research on psychosocial correlates in bullying behaviors is reviewed and four insights that provide directions for future research are derived. The contributing authors in the special issue augment these insights by examining the influence of the peer ecology on bullying (Rodkin & Hodges, 2003), using longitudinal and multivariate methodologies in bullying research (Long & Pellegrini, 2003), assessing the climates within the school where bullying typically occurs (Leff, Power, Costigan, & Manz, 2003), exploring implementation issues of school-wide bullying prevention programming (Orpinas, Horne, & Staniszewski, 2003), reviewing laws and policies to address bullying (Limber & Small, 2003), and challenging researchers to reach a consensus on bullying research (Furlong, Morrison, & Greif, 2003).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dorothy L. Espelage

Dorothy L. Espelage, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University in 1997. She has conducted research on bullying for the last seven years. As a result, she presents regularly at national conferences and is author on over 30 professional publications. She is on the editorial board for Journal of Counseling and Development. She has presented hundreds of workshops and in-service training seminars for teachers, administrators, counselors, and social workers across the U.S. Her research focuses on translating empirical findings into prevention and intervention programming. Dr. Espelage has appeared on many television news and talk shows, including The Today Show, CNN, CBS Evening News, and The Oprah Winfrey Show and has been quoted in the national print press, including Time Magazine, USA Today, and People magazine.

Susan M. Swearer

Susan M. Swearer, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of School Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She earned her Ph.D. in School Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin in 1997. She has conducted research on the relationship between depression and anxiety and externalizing problems (with a specific emphasis on bullying) in children and adolescents for the past decade. Dr. Swearer regularly presents at national conferences and conducts workshops on bullying and victimization in school-aged youth. She writes regularly on the topic of bullying and is on the editorial review boards for Education and Treatment of Children, School Psychology Quarterly, and School Psychology Review. Her research project on bullying, “Target bullying: Ecologically-based prevention and intervention for schools” teaches school personnel how to collect ecologically valid data on bullying and use those data to guide prevention and intervention efforts.